The anti-war movement

Pressure for the introduction of conscription
in Britain - the only Great
Power without universal military service - had grown in the
early years of the 20th century. The National
Service League, founded in 1906 after the Boer
War, had more than 315,000 members and 'supporters' at its peak
in 1912. Five consecutive conscription bills were tabled in Parliament
in the years before 1914.

Yet opposition to universal military service remained strong. The
governing Liberal Party opposed the idea, as did large sections
of the Labour Party and some Conservatives. Even after war broke
out in August 1914, the Cabinet unanimously dismissed Winston
Churchill's proposal for 'compulsory [military] service'. British
strategy, as the foreign secretary Sir
Edward Grey argued, was 'to pursue a European policy without
keeping up a great army'.

Introduction of conscription

However, the high casualty rates on the Western
Front and the falling number of voluntary recruits for the 'New
Army' quickly pushed the issue of conscription to the top of
the political agenda. After the formation of a coalition government
under Asquith
in May 1915, the Conservative Party and the Liberal minister of
munitionsDavid
Lloyd George orchestrated a powerful media campaign in favour
of universal military service.

In January and May 1916, two Military
Service Acts were passed by Parliament, ensuring that all those
eligible to serve 'king and country' were now forced to report for
duty. Various categories were exempt - among others, those whose
work was essential to the war effort, those deemed medically unfit
for service and those who could show a 'conscientious objection'
to active participation in the war.

There were many shades of opinion on the British left about a general
anti-war campaign, but it proved far easier to mobilise around the
single issue of conscription. From 1915 onwards, conscription was
presented by groups such as the Independent
Labour Party (ILP) as a fatal infringement of civil liberties
that would allow 'Prussian militarism' to enter Britain by the back
door. Despite police harassment and the restrictions of the Defence
of the Realm Act, the ILP and other organisations such as the
No-Conscription
Fellowship distributed leaflets and held meetings that roundly
condemned the idea of a British conscript army.

Conscientious objectors

With the passing of the Military Service Acts
in 1916, the attention of many anti-conscription activists turned
increasingly from stopping conscription per se to helping
its most obvious victim: the conscientious objector. Approximately
16,000 men were recorded as 'COs' during the First World War.

They fell into various categories. Some opposed the 'imperialist'
war on political grounds; others - including many Quakers
- opposed it for religious reasons. Some COs felt able to support
the war effort as non-combatants. 'Absolutists', however, opposed
undertaking any work whatsoever that aided Britain's prosecution
of the war.

The fate of British COs was usually decided by local tribunals,
set up under the terms of the Military Service Act to judge whether
individuals should be granted exemption from military service. Many
who appeared before them offered practical arguments for exemption
(such as physical or medical disability, employment on work of 'national
importance', or family or business situations that could not survive
their absence), rather than principled opposition to the war.

Those who applied for exemption on grounds of conscience were often
given short shrift. The No-Conscription Fellowship worked tirelessly
on such cases, giving advice about how to present applications to
the tribunal and publicising the fate of COs who were imprisoned
as 'deserters' after losing their appeals.

Little sympathy

Of the 16,000 conscientious
objectors in Britain during the First World War, more than one-third
went to prison at least once, and 1,500 'absolutists' were locked
up for the duration of the conflict. Many more COs accepted non-combatant
work on various projects of 'national importance'.

Such men, however, constituted a tiny minority of the British
army. Although the anti-conscription movement in Britain had no
parallels elsewhere in Europe, it was still a relatively minor thorn
in the government's side. Public opinion generally had little sympathy
for COs treated harshly in prison. Organisations such as the ILP
and the No-Conscription Fellowship were stigmatised in the jingoistic
sections of the press as 'cowards', 'peace cranks' and 'pasty faces'.

Events in Cardiff in November 1916, when a 'peace conference' was
violently interrupted by a mob of 'patriots', vividly illustrated
the depth of public hostility towards those who were seen to be
hindering the successful prosecution of the war.